The present invention relates to a machine for supplying rod-shaped objects such as cigarettes from a supply hopper into a container.
As a filling machine of this type, apparatuses . disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,487,001 and 4,489,534 are well known. These apparatuses comprise a supply hopper in which a plurality of cigarettes are horizontally stored, and two rows of rod members arranged in the lower portion of the supply hopper. The rod members in each row are located in the horizontal direction at intervals. The adjacent rod members in each row define a discharge passage for the cigarettes. The discharge passages defined in the upper row are vertically aligned with corresponding ones defined in the lower row. Therefore, the cigarettes in the supply hopper can be discharged downward, keeping their horizontal pose and passing through the upper and lower discharge passages.
In the case of this filling machine, the container in which the cigarettes are to be filled is positioned right under the supply hopper. The cigarettes discharged through the supply hopper are successively piled in the container. Further, the container can be successively lowered according to the height of the cigarettes piled in the container. As is described above, if the container is successively lowered, the distance of the cigarettes falling in the container or on the cigarettes already piled in the container can be made as short as possible when the cigarettes are filled in the container. As the result, the cigarettes can be piled in the container, keeping reliably their horizontal pose as in the supply hopper.
In the case of the above-described machines, however, the adjacent cigarettes in the supply hopper apt to simultaneously enter a discharge passage in the upper row during the filling process. In this case, the discharge passage is closed by the cigarettes. Therefore, the filling of the cigarettes from the supply hopper into the container cannot be attained smoothly.
When the discharge of the cigarette through the discharge passages of the upper row is not carried out smoothly like this, the cigarettes cannot be orderly piled in the container, thereby reducing the number of the cigarettes filled in the containers.
When the container is made full of the cigarettes, it is necessary to stop the supply of the cigarettes from through the supply hopper to the container, while the fully filled container must be exchanged with an empty one. In the case of the above-described machines, the rod members which form one of the upper and lower rows are shifted in the horizontal direction and then positioned on the axial lines of the corresponding discharge passages of the other row. The discharge passages of the other row are thus closed by the rod members shifted, thereby stopping the supply of the cigarettes the supply hopper to the container. When the rod members of one row are shifted in this manner, however, some of the cigarettes which intend to be discharged from the supply hopper are sometimes sandwiched between the rod members of the upper and lower rows, thereby damaging these cigarettes.